Good Afternoon, I joined dropzone so I could get feedback on questions I have about my skydiving. I am a 23 year old female who weighs 104 pounds. YEA! NO ONE CAN FLY WITH ME! I have 14 jumps now so still in student progression but im onto coach jumps and no one can stay with me. The aff instructor did ok during all of my categories, maybe i was arching better but was def. back sliding. now i traded straighter legs to not back slide and im going 90 mph! ugh..going to the tunnel in raeford this friday night to see if the coach can maybe get me to arch while having bent knees? help

1. Dress for success. Skydivers whose nickname starts with "big" (like "Big Ben") or who refer to themselves as anvils need baggy suits sometimes with wings built in to bring their drag in line with their weight. You have the opposite problem and need a slick skin tight suit as opposed to the relaxed fit student suit you've been borrowing. Increasing your weight will also help. A weight vest/belt or pockets on your first rig for lead weights will give you some pounds that are useful skydiving but don't impact the rest of your life like what you get from beer and cheeseburgers.

You could also get your normal sized coaches to wear baggy free fly suits, although for more than a 2-way flat jump people will want their regular suits with grippers.

thank you drew. I have worn my vertical suite on solos. the coach has been wanting me to wear spandex student suite because it has grippers..but they arent even getting close enough to grip! i want to wear my vertical next time. i have heard about weight belts and i am oppose to them under student status because i would rather learn with out them on. i have a really great arch but i back slide...i am not even considering weights because id like to free fly more than RW so i am hoping i will not have to buy weights. i have a spandex under armor suite that is tighter than tight but im sure it would be colder than cold lol

This may make 4-way difficult, as the folks you're jumping with will have to break their box position to take grips on your arms/legs. That tends to put "pulses" into the formation, kind of defeating the purpose of 4-way

You have 14 jumps. You really shouldn't have that attitude. You need to learn to fly and be relative first, then worry about the type of skydiving you want to do. Of course just like every other overly impressionable newbie you already *know* what you should be doing.

Is your vertical suit made of ZP with spandex inserts? Why do you think you cant wear weight when freeflying? How do you intend to learn to recognize the sight picture of being high or low on a formation without practicing in a stable body position first?

Relax. You have the rest of your skydiving career to become a freefly snob. Those of us that have been around a while have figured out a secret I'll let you in on.

It's all the same. Bodyflight is bodyflight. Upsides down, right side up, belly, back, head, feet, it's all the same.

To keep from back-sliding, and still maintain a good arch, you need to keep your lower legs out slightly beyond your knees or just about damn near vertical. If you backslide, stick your feet out a bit more to compensate.

Another way to help control your relative position is your forearms and hands. In a boxman position to move forward slightly, you can lower your hands a bit (get them below the elbows).

You will eventually learn how to move your body. It takes time. Some learn it fast, others take a long time. It took me a while.

The best thing I ever did when I was young and skinny was buy some weights. RW went from frustratingly hard to easy in one jump. I know longer had to bend in half just to be able to stay with anyone and then I couldn't move. I learned so much faster and progressed so much faster once I wore the weights and could actually fly relative to people. It was hopeless before that.

You should learn how to do RW before you learn to freefly and there are a thousand threads on here about the reasons why.

I don't fall as slow as you, but I also fell to slow to fly with most people. I purchased a custom suit and talked to the factory specifically about falling faster. The front of the legs are even faster and less durable material. But now, I can fall below a 2 way if I am not careful. The slickest suit might not be fast enough for you. But it did me a lot of good.

You have 14 jumps. You really shouldn't have that attitude. You need to learn to fly and be relative first, then worry about the type of skydiving you want to do. Of course just like every other overly impressionable newbie you already *know* what you should be doing.

Is your vertical suit made of ZP with spandex inserts? Why do you think you cant wear weight when freeflying? How do you intend to learn to recognize the sight picture of being high or low on a formation without practicing in a stable body position first?

Relax. You have the rest of your skydiving career to become a freefly snob. Those of us that have been around a while have figured out a secret I'll let you in on.

It's all the same. Bodyflight is bodyflight. Upsides down, right side up, belly, back, head, feet, it's all the same.

You have 14 jumps. You really shouldn't have that attitude. You need to learn to fly and be relative first, then worry about the type of skydiving you want to do. Of course just like every other overly impressionable newbie you already *know* what you should be doing.

Is your vertical suit made of ZP with spandex inserts? Why do you think you cant wear weight when freeflying? How do you intend to learn to recognize the sight picture of being high or low on a formation without practicing in a stable body position first?

Relax. You have the rest of your skydiving career to become a freefly snob. Those of us that have been around a while have figured out a secret I'll let you in on.

It's all the same. Bodyflight is bodyflight. Upsides down, right side up, belly, back, head, feet, it's all the same.

You have 14 jumps. You really shouldn't have that attitude. You need to learn to fly and be relative first, then worry about the type of skydiving you want to do. Of course just like every other overly impressionable newbie you already *know* what you should be doing.

Is your vertical suit made of ZP with spandex inserts? Why do you think you cant wear weight when freeflying? How do you intend to learn to recognize the sight picture of being high or low on a formation without practicing in a stable body position first?

Relax. You have the rest of your skydiving career to become a freefly snob. Those of us that have been around a while have figured out a secret I'll let you in on.

It's all the same. Bodyflight is bodyflight. Upsides down, right side up, belly, back, head, feet, it's all the same.

A weight vest/belt or pockets on your first rig for lead weights will give you some pounds

I strongly disagree here. Why? Because she has 14 jumps and has not yet gotten a good grip on canopy flight and landing. Crash and burn with a weight belt puts a lot of added stress on back muscles and spines.

To keep from back-sliding, and still maintain a good arch, you need to keep your lower legs out slightly beyond your knees or just about damn near vertical. If you backslide, stick your feet out a bit more to compensate.

She already knows that, Billy.

In reply to:

Another way to help control your relative position is your forearms and hands. In a boxman position to move forward slightly, you can lower your hands a bit (get them below the elbows).

You are soooo old school. There are more efficient ways of moving forward. On top of that you're telling a 14-jumper to start doing more advanced, AND less stable, maneuvers. Not a good idea. On top of that, she's still a student and I don't know of an AFFI in the world that wants their students doing anything other than what THEY are telling them to do.

In reply to:

You will eventually learn how to move your body. It takes time. Some learn it fast, others take a long time. It took me a while.

Sorry to bring this thread back on topic but I was also in the same situation as the OP. Static Line progression meant that the first time I ever really jumped with someone else was my first FS1 jump. Guess what, backsliding all over the place.

Unfortunately I'm also a really small jumper: 5'3 130lbs so I'm essentially bent in half when jumping with others, every time I tried to move forward I'd de-arch and pop up.

I too refused to use weights as I'm a firm believer in learning to fly my body so the next best solution was getting a proper jumpsuit. The difference is unbelievable, I now have to be careful not to go low when jumping with people around 190-200lbs.

Bottom line, get a decent jumpsuit - I too want to learn to freefly but doing RW helps build awareness of where other people are and how not to smack into them. To be honest, after 100 jumps - I'm still too scared to try freefly for fear I'll knock someone unconscious - you need to be honest with yourself about your skill level.